Pieces To The Puzzle
by RabbitHole26
Summary: Over the course of her life, Hanna Marin had become quite familiar with the unexpected. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first time I have ever written for PLL. I rewrote this several times but hopefully this makes sense. I will probably add at least one more part to it, but let me know what you think! Thanks!**

XXX

Over the course of her life, Hanna Marin had become quite familiar with the unexpected. When she was seven her family had moved from upstate New York to Rosewood, and although she had cried her eyes out when they first told her, she eventually made the best of it. When she was ten, Alison DiLaurentis, who was the pretty Queen B of the school, chose her to be her friend and Hanna couldn't believe that the most popular girl in school would want to spend time with her. When she started high school, her father cheated on her mother and walked out on their family, leaving Hanna to adapt to change once again. When she had finally achieved an appearance that didn't make her cringe when she looked in the mirror, Sean Ackard had asked her out, which was something she never thought would happen no matter how hard she tried. When she had gotten close to a group of girls that she trusted with her life, Alison went missing, and it broke their bond apart. When Hanna had made new friends and finally come to terms with Alison's assumed death, A had showed up and turned her life upside down, and brought her back to Spencer, Aria and Emily. Emily. She was the most unexpected thing that came into Hanna's life, except it ended up taking her years to realize it.

It had started long before Alison ever went missing, long before Emily came out, and long before Hanna shed her "hefty" image and became desired by most guys at school. One day after school while the girls were all at Hanna's house, Alison had started making fun of Emily because she hadn't kissed a boy yet, and never seemed to be that interested in dating. Even though Emily was visibly embarrassed by the taunts, they continued until the girls had gone home for dinner. Emily was the last to leave, but before she could Hanna had told her that it was okay that she hadn't had a boyfriend yet. "It's not that I don't want to, I just haven't found anyone I wanted to kiss yet," Emily had quietly replied, "I'm just scared I'll be bad because I've never done it before." Hanna knew what it was like to be the butt of Alison's jokes, so she had marched up to Emily and pulled her into a kiss, pulled back a little bit, and then kissed her again. "There, now you have," she said nonchalantly, as Emily's face went from shocked to a thankful smile. What Hanna had never told anyone was that it had been her first real kiss too. Months later, Hanna had wanted the part of Juliet in the school play, but she lost out to some other girl and was blaming it on the fact that she wasn't skinny. She had marched into the girl's bathroom with every intention on getting rid of her lunch, but before she could, Emily came in and gently placed a hand on her arm. "You're beautiful the way you are, you don't need to do that. Especially not over some stupid school play," she had said. That was the first time that anyone besides Hanna's parents had called her beautiful, and she would never forget it.

After Emily had come out, Hanna started to think about what it would have been like if Emily had been interested in her, instead of Alison. She knew she would have never toyed with Emily's feelings like the other girl did, but the more she thought about it, the more she wondered. Emily was the one person that she felt she could be completely honest with, even more so than the other girls. They just seemed to get each other; one look and they knew exactly what was going on in the other's head. Despite the feelings she would sometimes get around Emily, she was still the same old Hanna on the inside, the insecure girl who worried about how the rest of the world viewed her. So, she did nothing.

Before Hanna knew it, the girls were all in their senior year of high school, and still dealing with the many A's, still dealing with the aftermath of Alison's death. She had Caleb, her wonderful and supportive boyfriend, by her side and Emily had been dating Paige and they seemed to be good for each other. There were some nights though, when Hanna would wish that she could just escape. She found that the closest thing to getting out of Rosewood was when she would be holed up with Emily in her room, watching _Laguna Beach_ reruns or doing homework.

On this particular night, the girls were sitting on Hanna's bed with a stack of magazines next to them. "Is this article seriously trying to tell me the library is an appropriate place to take a date?" Hanna exclaimed out of nowhere, as Emily looked up from her book and glanced at the page in front of Hanna. "Well, you _are_ reading the section called 'Fun & Free Dates'," she replied as Hanna shook her head and scoffed, "Okay, I understand a moonlit walk, but what are you supposed to do at a library?" Emily rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle while she gestured to what she had been reading, "Some people do read books for fun, Han. It can be romantic. It was for me…" she trailed off, saying the last bit much quieter than the rest. Hanna caught it though and was quick to respond, "Wait, you and Paige get it on in the library stacks at school?" to which Emily shook her head, "No, not Paige." Hanna's face immediately fell, "Oh, I'm sorry Em, I didn't mean to bring up Maya, I didn't know." Emily was quiet for a minute, staring off into space, before she set her book down and turned to meet Hanna's gaze, "It wasn't Maya, it was Alison." Hanna looked confused as she asked, "Wait, I thought you said you never got to tell her how you felt? Besides that letter?" Emily sighed, "I mean we never got to talk about it, not really, but I kissed her in the library once." Hanna didn't want to pry, even though she was dying to know what had happened, so instead she simply scooted closer to Emily, putting her hand on her shoulder. "She was reading me something from _Great Expectations, _and I guess I just couldn't hold it in anymore, so I kissed her," Emily paused for a moment before she continued, " And for a second it felt like she was kissing me back. She didn't say anything about it then, she just smiled and kept reading. Until a few days later when she told me I was just practice for boys. After that she just screwed with me." Hanna leaned forward and hugged Emily harder than she ever had before she spoke, "I guess it makes sense now, why she used to give you so much crap about getting a boyfriend." A small smile appeared on Emily's face as she thought about it, "You know I think she knew I liked her before I even did. I am grateful for one thing though, you were actually my first kiss, not Ali." After she said it her smile faltered, they had never talked about their kiss and Hanna could tell Emily was worried she had said the wrong thing or made her uncomfortable. "You were my first kiss too, Em. Which I am also grateful for, by the way," Hanna replied, playfully elbowing Emily's side, "better you than Sean." Emily kept a straight face for a moment before she broke out into a fit of laughter, with Hanna following suit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the second part, it wraps it up! Thanks for all of the feedback. **

_Today I'm not myself  
And you, you're someone else  
And all these rules don't fit  
And all that starts can quit_

"You know that's why I kept to myself after Alison disappeared, because you reminded me of her," Emily said the next time that she was alone with Hanna. The two had gone for a jog and ended up taking a break in the middle of the woods, sitting at a single picnic table that had somehow gotten there years before. Hanna frowned at the sentiment, "I wish I would have known that. Except I guess I was too into myself back then to pay attention anyways." Emily sighed, "It's okay Han, we were all grieving in different ways," she said as she took a sip from her water bottle. Hanna looked up at the sky, thinking about how nice it felt to be out in the middle of nowhere for once with no phones, and no one to bother her. Well, except for Emily, but she never _bothered _her. "You know I used to want to _be_ Alison so bad, but now when I think about it, being told that I remind anyone of her is the last thing I want," Hanna muttered, playing with her hands. Emily placed her hand over Hanna's, to stop her fidgeting, before she spoke, "You don't remind me of her anymore. Ali was cold. You're warm."

_What a peculiar state we're in  
What a peculiar state we're in_

When Caleb's Dad asked if he wanted to move away with him, Hanna almost felt relieved. It was drama-free in the sense that Caleb knew they would be going to different colleges at the end of the year, and that it was the best time to get to know his father. Hanna had agreed, they planned on keeping in touch, said their goodbyes, and that was that. The reason it didn't seem to hurt wasn't that she didn't love him, it was that she had finally acknowledged that she needed to figure out what had been going on with her lately. She hadn't been connecting with him like they used to, and she found herself calling Emily more often than Caleb. It confused her and she hated it, but not as much as she hated herself for ignoring those feelings for so long. She thought back to the day that Emily had told her she was beautiful in that bathroom so many years ago and a smile appeared on her lips. Then she remembered that regardless of what she ended up coming to terms with, Emily had Paige. Her smile faded.

_Let's play a game  
Where all of the lives we lead can change  
Let's play a game  
Where nothing that we can see, the same_

Hanna plopped down on Emily's window seat with a huff, typing furiously on her phone before groaning and throwing it onto the pillow beside her. "Something wrong?" the brunette questioned, as she sat down on her bed, getting her math homework from her bag. "Caleb has been texting me non-stop. Like, hello, we broke up! Stop annoying me!" Hanna replied, throwing her hands into the air for a dramatic effect. Emily frowned and got up from the bed and sat down next to her friend, "You don't have to put on a brave face for me, you _can_ be sad about it," she said. "But I'm not sad," Hanna replied, "Does that make me a bad person? It was kind of a relief…" she trailed off, looking down at the floor. Emily smiled, "Of course not. I just want you to be happy, no matter who or what makes that happen." Hanna sighed, looking over at her friend, wishing that she could turn off everything she was feeling, before she spoke, "What if I think I know who would make me happy, but they're not interested?" Emily snorted and rolled her eyes, "I refuse to believe that. You are beautiful inside and out, who _wouldn't _be interested?" After hearing that, Hanna locked eyes with her and slowly leaned into Emily, brushing her lips against her friend's for a moment before Emily pulled back. "Hanna…" she said, trailing off with a surprised tone. Hanna, however, took it as a tone of pity and rejection, and practically ran out of Emily's house, ignoring the other girl's yells for her to stop.

_We'll find all the pieces to the puzzles  
Slipping out under the locks  
I can show you how many moves to checkmate, right now_

When Emily rang Hanna's doorbell a couple of nights later, the blonde had happily headed to answer the door, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who it was through the front windows. "Come on Hanna let me in, it's pouring and I'm soaked," Emily yelled through the door as Hanna debated on whether or not to open the door. A loud clap of thunder interrupted her internal struggle, followed by a bright flash of lightning. "Crap," Hanna muttered as she opened the door and let Emily duck inside, immediately taking off her jacket and boots, which were all drenched. "Here, I'll hang that up," Hanna offered as she took Emily's jacket to the coat closet. "Can we go upstairs? To talk?" Emily asked, silently pleading with her eyes as they met the blonde's. Hanna sighed and headed up the staircase, as Emily followed behind her.

The instant that Hanna's door had clicked shut, Emily blurted out, "I broke up with Paige," which made the blonde turn her head around so fast she thought she might have given herself whiplash. "What? Why?" Hanna dumbly asked as she stood awkwardly with her hands hanging by her side, eyes wide. "Because I would be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you," Emily breathed out, "And after Alison, I vowed to never fall for one of my friends again, and I've tried so hard to keep that promise. But then you kissed me." Hanna's eyes were darting around the room as she tried to avoid eye contact with the brunette. She felt frozen in place, knowing that she needed to say something but was completely unable to. "I guess I just need you to tell me if it was a mistake. Our friendship means so much to me, so if it was, just tell me and we can pretend this never happened," Emily finished, looking worried at the lack of response she was getting. Finally, Hanna met her gaze and confidently said, "It wasn't a mistake." Emily didn't miss her queue; she walked over to the blonde and wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her into a kiss. Hanna's arms flew around Emily's neck, kissing her back, and they stayed like that for what felt like hours.

Hanna gently pushed back from Emily for a minute, trying to catch her breath as she spoke in almost whisper, "Are you thinking about Alison right now?" Emily paused for a minute before she let out a laugh, "Hanna, I couldn't think about her right now even if I wanted to." Hanna smiled, that was all she needed to hear before she her lips met Emily's again.

_We could take apart this life we're building  
And pack it up inside a box  
All that really matters is we're doing it, right now  
_

"What exactly did you tell Paige?" Hanna would ask later, when the two were laying in her bed, limbs tangled together. "I told her that I couldn't help it, and that it's always been you," Emily replied simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Ha. Ha. Very funny," Hanna scoffed, giving the brunette a skeptical look, "Aren't you forgetting an infatuation with a different blonde?" Emily narrowed her eyes and gave Hanna an amused look, "Han, you are so oblivious sometimes. I remember when you moved here, when they introduced you to the third grade class as the new girl. I remember thinking your hair was so pretty, and I used to watch you, like, all the time." Hanna sat up abruptly before practically screeching, "What? You did not!" Emily let out a laugh, "Yeah, I did. You didn't notice… but Ali did. I think she hated that she wasn't the center of my attention, so that's when she started messing with me. And then she started calling you hefty. She distracted me for a little while but it really has always been you."

Hanna decided that she would wait for another rainy day to tell Emily that she used to ride her bike to the rec center and sneak into her swim meets, before they were good friends, just to watch her too.


End file.
